There’s a special election coming up this August. The voter registration deadline is Monday, July 10th. Are you registered to vote yet?

If you’re not, it’s totally understandable: discussion of a need for an active and conscientious electorate can be quite insulting when you work more than two jobs to keep a roof over your head and food on the table; it can seem totally irrelevant. It’s also true that many of our elected officials tend to become aloof for all but the most intense portion of their re-election campaigns, so why bother?

Getting out the vote is the reason I entered into community organizing work, which brought me to Columbus over a decade ago. It was 2011, and Gov. John Kasich’s Senate Bill 5 sought to marginalize the collective bargaining powers of public workers.

Those opposed to the legislation saw it for what it was: an attempt to hoodwink the public into gutting worker protections while privatizing public sector jobs. We knew the Right would exploit their base’s resentments against unions. But we fought back and won with one of the largest mobilizations in Ohio history. 

Tuesday, July 4, 1pm, beginning and ending at Goodale Park [Park St. side], 120 W. Goodale St.

The Doo Dah Parade is celebrating 40 Years so prepare to be blown away! The Good Witch of the [Short] North would look kindly on you by either watching or being in the parade. There’s no entry fee, no pre-registration, you just show up!

Celebrate Liberty and Lunacy with traditional weird costumes and customs and funny opinions in the Short North Arts District. In Goodale Park, hang in the shade near the gazebo for the live music after-glow party, 11am-8pm.

The Ruby Jubilee 40th Annual Doo Dah Parade, Tuesday, July 4, 1pm. Rain Date: July 3. No entry fee. There’s no place like Doo Dah!

If you feel it, belt out the National Anthem at 1pm. The parade then stumbles out at 1:01pm.

Line-up begins at 12noon on Park St. Political Satire at Its Worst!

There’s free live music at the gazebo near the pond from 11am to 7pm. Use this link to view the 2023 band list.

Watch or march in the craziest parade in history! No entry fee! Just show up!

The Extreme Court may have struck down affirmative action, but nevertheless, 2023 is shaping
up to be a superlative year for debuts and revivals of Black-themed dramas treading the boards of
Los Angeles’ stages. This bumper crop currently electrifying L.A.’s theater scene include: June
Carryl’s police brutality two-hander Blue (see https://www.roguemachinetheatre.org/); Katori
Hall’s Dr. King one-acter The Mountaintop (see: https://www.geffenplayhouse.org/); plus an
adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth starring African American thesp Max Lawrence in the title
role (in repertory at https://theatricum.com/).
Now we can add to this already auspicious list Will Power’s thought-provoking, perplexing
Fetch Clay, Make Man, directed by Debbie Allen. As the newly minted Muhammad Ali (Ray
Fisher, reprising the role he first played a decade ago) prepares for his 1965 rematch with ex-
champ Sonny Liston, the heavyweight champion summons Stepin Fetchit (Edwin Lee Gibson) to

Numbers can be dehumanizing. However, when placed in their proper context, they help to illuminate wider issues and answer urgent questions, such as why is Occupied Palestine at the threshold of a major revolt. And why Israel cannot crush Palestinian resistance no matter how hard, or violently, it tries.

 That's when numbers become relevant. Since the start of this year, nearly 200 Palestinians have been killed in the Occupied West Bank and Gaza. Among them are 27 children.

 If one is to imagine a heat map correlating the towns, villages and refugee camps of the Palestinian victims to the ongoing armed rebellion, one will immediately spot direct connections. Gaza, Jenin and Nablus, for example, paid the heaviest price for Israeli violence, making them the regions that resist most.

Mine 4 God Productions (M4GP) is proud and excited to announce its 11th Annual Columbus Black Theatre Festival (CBTF) held this year July 7th – 9th at the Columbus Performing Arts Center in the Van Fleet Theatre.

Our theme this year is “The Right to Choose” and the seven plays that were selected meet our theme touching on mixed marriages, gender identities, sexual lifestyles, educational choices, racial biases, abortion and “coming out” to parents. These plays, written by playwrights from across America, come to life on stage under the direction of local and New York Directors and by the performances of actors from central Ohio.

This year we also brought back our six-week summer Youth Writing and Acting Workshop. The youth will perform their original monologues at the Columbus Metropolitan Main Library on July 1st and also at the theatre festival. We thank the Greater Columbus Arts Council for their generous Project Support Grant, Wild Goose Creatives our fiscal sponsor and Lady Butterflies of Ohio for their continued support.